JIMMY VARGAS & THE BLACK DAHLIAS

Formed
by JIMMY VARGAS in San Francisco in 1993, the BLACK DAHLIAS, (so named
after Hollywood's sainted and ill-fated Madonna of Los Angeles nineteen
forties folklore, one Elizabeth Short) are dark expositors of the
self-coined 'Tease, Torch, and Noir' genre.

The BLACK DAHLIAS'
original soundtrack exploits the canon of a dream-world nineteen
forties Americana, their illicit tunes birthed from the trellis of
harlot parfum and the cracked shellac spinning out of a Hollywood
pleasure house jukebox…“Occupying a complete unique area - of
off-kilter conceptual jazz noir for the striptease cocktail lounge set,
produced with such love and authentic decadence that only a fool would
fail to be entranced” (DAVID FLINT...STRIPORAMA MAGAZINE...UK)

Jazz
noir credentials aside, the BLACK DAHLIAS are essentially a cinematic
experience trans-mutated live from a 'Poverty Row' B-picture reel. While
Vargas may well be the voice, it is his Argentinian exotic-sorceress
Liliana Scarlatta who is the fortease fetish totem of their production.
Miss Scarlatta's terpsichoreal glamour is said to have been
channeled direct from the MGM goddesses of soundstage past, while her
ecdysiac gyrations both inspire and provoke the combos live set.“She
is absolutely entrancing...Vargas' music of sly grooves, and romantic
sonnets of loss are undoubtedly created from the sexotic dna of his
muse MIss Scarlatta...”(TARA RITTER....FRIGHT X MAGAZINE...CANADA)

Miss
Scarlatta is the consummate showgirl, whether it be vipering the pole,
sinuating a saucy striptease, taunting with a torrid tango, or
capricious cancan, Liliana is the spirited soubrette that divines Jimmy
Vee's Ziegfeld noir universe. What, however separates the Black
Dahlias from other contemporary combos mining the vintage skein, is
Vargas' own fresh compositions.“There are no other writers like
him...Not many musicians like him either...Vargas' work is dark and
moody, bound tightly like garters to a pair of nylons, yet ethereal
like wisps of cigarette smoke”(JASON CROFT... JAVA BACHELOR PAD MAGAZINE...USA 2010)

For
Vargas and his cohorts are not nor should be so regarded as merely a
revival act. Theirs is what Vargas describes as a 'parallel life
production'.Vargas has one eye locked on the 21st Century, the
other orb clicking over misty visions of his deincarne self as a
racketeering sin alley Sinatra, who ungraciously expired under a
fusillade of bullets in a Los Angeles bar on December 23rd 1947. Or so the rumors around the chichi west coast boites go.

“Noir
renaissance man Jimmy Vargas has answered the question, “How do you do
market retro-fetishism in the 21st Century?...With his latest album. he
shows how you can...Vargas is a pulp culture pimp who jazzes up the
notion of nostalgia with provocative pinup art set to sensuous sax and
ballsy blues. There’s nothing old-fashioned about Jimmy Vargas. His
sinister style is timeless, frozen forever in a hedonistic hep-cat
hell” (WILL VIHARO...RETROSPECTIVE MAGAZINE USA 2011)

Jimmy
Vargas and the Black Dahlias' kill chill credibility were established
early in their career when in 1995, they were taken under the wing of
that esteemed demon dog of American crime fiction JAMES ELLROY (he of
LA CONFIDENTIAL, BLACK DAHLIA fame), who after hearing their first
album EL TORCHTURA, demanded that they join him on his first celebrated
East Coast tour, as backing band / noir confidantes. Both survived the
IRS and ageing Hollywood hitmen.

With seven albums to date
(their new disc of neo-40s latino torch and dark swing... LUST
ANGELES being their latest), the BLACK DAHLIAS continue to spread
the gospel of the tease, the torch, and the noir to Hepcats, swingers,
Satanists, vamps and jazz heathens alike.In August 2012, Jimmy Vargas signed with legendary Hollywood label DIONYSUS.

VARGAS’
literary expositions have finally found a home at DARK MOON PRESS with
whom the crooner inked in MARCH 2013, seeing the release of his
SHADOW BRIDE book series, with first novel available at Amazon on April
30th 2013.